The hatch arrangement (DE 20 2005 020 085 U1) in question is equipped with a hatch door, a motor vehicle lock and a control arrangement, wherein the motor vehicle lock is equipped with the customary lock components of a lock latch and a detent pawl. In a latched state, the lock latch is in securing engagement with a locking wedge, while in a released state the locking wedge is released by the lock latch. The detent pawl has the function here of securing the lock latch in the respective latching position.
In the course of the increasing of comfort in motor vehicles, the motor vehicle lock in question has been equipped with an opening drive by which the detent pawl is lifted out in a motor-powered releasing process, triggered by the control arrangement. The motor vehicle lock is correspondingly adjusted from a latched state into a released state.
In the known hatch arrangement, the releasing process occurs in a fully automated fashion, with the result that there is no need for any assisting intervention by the driver whatsoever. The known hatch arrangement is also equipped with a motor-powered hatch drive which implements an opening process which follows the releasing process.
When the hatch door is in the locked position, high sealing counter pressures generally act in the known hatch arrangement, which counter pressures can cause the hatch door to jump out during motor-powered lifting out of the detent pawl and the associated releasing of the locking wedge. In the most unfavourable case, the jumping out of the hatch door is followed by the hatch door dropping back due to gravity into a possibly present prelatching position of the motor vehicle lock. This dropping back of the motor vehicle lock into a renewed latch state is referred to as a “relatch process”. The occurrence of the renewed latch state, here the “relatch state” is considered to be a loss of comfort by the user.
Some motor vehicle locks are equipped with what is referred to as a snow load function. That is to say the detent pawl of the motor vehicle lock is held in its lifted-out position after the releasing process until the hatch door has reached a minimum deflection. The minimum deflection is usually the hatch deflection in which the locking wedge or the like leaves the lock latch. If the above jumping up of the hatch door remains below the minimum deflection, a relatch process cannot occur here since the detent pawl is prevented from dropping in. However, the jumping up of the hatch door generally goes beyond the minimum deflection, as a result of which the snow load function is not helpful in avoiding the relatch process. Basically, although it would be possible to extend the minimum deflection here, it would involve quite considerable structural expenditure.